HP Pavilion DV6 Hard disk does not exist

[gnawhalak]

Hello..

I got a HP DV6 in my shop.. customer sent it in because, loading and using windows 7 is suuper slow and hangs..

so i tried tinkering with it..

1. Initially, I entered safe mode. It loaded fine, and responds quicker inside windows.
2. Tried restoring windows coz i thought it was a virus that caused it. (no effect)
3. Checked disk using windows 7
4. Checked disk inside BIOS. .. (still no effect)
5. entered safe mode, updated antivirus, -- then the system crashed , Blue screen of death!
6. Then rebooting showed an error

BOOT DEVICE NOT FOUND
Please istall an operating system on your hard disk.
Hard disk (3F0)

7. now when i enter bios, it cannot detect the hard disk.
8. Took out the hard disk, and installed in another hp laptop. It booted up and entered windows fine (though still a bit slow)
9. installed a different HD on the dv6 laptop and still it can't detect the new HD.
10. Already tried loading set up defaults in bios.

now im baffled.. looked in the net.. a lot of this issue with the specific model. no clear solutions yet though..

 

[fixitdaz]

Have you tested the ram ?
and have you cheeked the Blue screen code ?

 

[gnawhalak]

Have you tested the ram ?
and have you cheeked the Blue screen code ?

yes, RAM tested ok in the BIOS check..

..

and too bad I wasn't able to get BSOD code..just flash quickly and laptop rebooted itslef..

 

[iisjman07]

Hard drive diagnostics?

 

[gnawhalak]

hello TLE..

nah..! .. its ok.. i came here to seek help and hoping some guy experienced this same prob.. .. i welcome every suggestion..

..

hmm.. but to answer... yes, i did suspect the hard disk too.. so here's what i did to test the hard disk..

1. took it out, and placed it as a slave in a desktop pc.. i could access all files without a problem, and was even able to run a chkdisk on it..

2. tried to boot it on a desktop pc, it went as far as windows splash screen before rebooting.

3. also tried putting it on another HP laptop with a different model.. entered windows normally! .. (this made me think that the hard disk is ok)

4. tried a working (different one) hard disk on the laptop, and yes, same error.. disk cannot be detected also

 

[gnawhalak]

Hard drive diagnostics?

i am about to try this one out.. but hmm.. found a lot in the web that they already tried this.. and nada.. most of them ended in bringing the laptop to a repair shop..

now my problem is.. i'm the repair man.. hehe.. the problem is thus passed on to me.. i just don't want to conclude that this laptop has a bad mobo that quickly though..

 

[iisjman07]

Being able to access files and perform a chkdsk (which could severely damage a faulty drive by the way) won't tell you very much at all about the state of the hard drive. You need to do some proper diagnostics

 

[TLE]

hello TLE..

nah..! .. its ok.. i came here to seek help and hoping some guy experienced this same prob.. .. i welcome every suggestion..

..

hmm.. but to answer... yes, i did suspect the hard disk too.. so here's what i did to test the hard disk..

1. took it out, and placed it as a slave in a desktop pc.. i could access all files without a problem, and was even able to run a chkdisk on it..

2. tried to boot it on a desktop pc, it went as far as windows splash screen before rebooting.

3. also tried putting it on another HP laptop with a different model.. entered windows normally! .. (this made me think that the hard disk is ok)

4. tried a working (different one) hard disk on the laptop, and yes, same error.. disk cannot be detected also

It would be worth using Crystal Disk to read the SMART status of the drive on a slave machine. It would at least give you an idea if the drive is having issues. You could then run the hard disk makers own diagnostic tools to get more information. But as iisjman says, running chkdsk on a drive which you suspect as being faulty is a big no, no. Always worth keeping that in mind.

My bad, I removed the post as I re-read your original post which stated that you had tried an alternative hard drive which was also not recognised. Since this is a DV6, does it have the NVidia GPU installed which causes nothing but problems?

 

[gnawhalak]

now i learned something new..

NEVER RUN CHECK DISK ON A SUSPECTED BAD DISK.. .. thanks..

.. i'm currently installing these HD diagnostic tools to try it out.. but i'm really wondering since this HD boots fine on a different laptop.. but would still give it a go though..

Since this is a DV6, does it have the NVidia GPU installed which causes nothing but problems?

actually i haven't opened it to mobo level yet, so i haven't seen the chip.. but could a GPU afftect the drive? ..




oh.. something i just noticed too.. that the dvd/rom just lights up and is not working now.. it was working before when i was still able to access windows..

 

[TLE]

Have a look at the models specs online and see what GPU it's using. NVidia G84 and G86 GPU in the 8400M and 8600M series of cards are affected.

Symtoms vary and it doesn't just affect the graphics.

 

[Xander]

2. Tried restoring windows coz i thought it was a virus that caused it. (no effect)

Unrelated to the disk matter but... why?
If there was a virus, why not remove the virus? Or, if you only suspected a virus, why not confirm that it was there before taking such a drastic action against it?

By "restore", do you mean a full system recovery or a repair install?

 

[gnawhalak]

ran some hard disk diagnosis.. here what i got:


crystaldisk - caution warning, current pending sector count

seagate diagnostic tools - passed SMART check.
failed - short drive self test.

now i'm trying to get to boot in a USB so i could run the long drive self test to hopefully repair some bad sectors..

will update you later with the results..

 

[gnawhalak]

Unrelated to the disk matter but... why?
If there was a virus, why not remove the virus? Or, if you only suspected a virus, why not confirm that it was there before taking such a drastic action against it?

By "restore", do you mean a full system recovery or a repair install?

my first diagnosis when i got the laptop was a virus since it starts and loads windows but it was suuupper slloooww.. (like 5-10 minutes to get to the desktop)

so, i entered safe mode and tried to "restore", sorry, to make it complete, i did try a "system restore", with no effect.. after that, I tried updating its antivirus intending for a full system scan.. but it crashed as I was downloading the updates..

it was later when I thought that the OS was a goner that i attempted a full system recovery but to no avail since it can't detect the recovery disk..

 

[mm201]

Being able to access files and perform a chkdsk (which could severely damage a faulty drive by the way) won't tell you very much at all about the state of the hard drive. You need to do some proper diagnostics

What happens when you run chkdsk on faulty drive that causes problems? I looked at Microsoft's article on chkdsk and didn't find any information.

 

[red12049]

4. tried a working (different one) hard disk on the laptop, and yes, same error.. disk cannot be detected also

If the above is correct, then while you may have a smart error on the original hard drive, you probably also have a bad motherboard.

Rick

 

[gnawhalak]

UPDATE:

1. use seatools to diagnose hard disk problem. and repaired bad sectors using the long test ..

after that, i placed it back to the laptop.. it was detected for a couple of times, yet after that, its gone again..

2. I used a live linux in a USB.. i was able to boot and load and run it with no problems. At times the hard disk could be detected.. at times it won't. I used Slitaz, so it doesn't use the hard disk to run linux..

3. After letting the customer know, he opted to take the hard disk and just try to look for his warranty card and hopefully have it covered still..


CONCLUSION:

iT could possibly be a bad hard disk and a bad mobo.. but yes, its another case not cracked for me.

 

[Appleby]

4. tried a working (different one) hard disk on the laptop, and yes, same error.. disk cannot be detected also

If the above is correct, then while you may have a smart error on the original hard drive, you probably also have a bad motherboard.

Rick

100% agree. If you've got a known working HD that isn't detected and after all the problems detecting the other drive....I'm saying you've got a motherboard problem. I just can't see how it could be anything else at that point? I would be really shocked to see a "hard drive not detected" error generated by something other than an actual hard drive problem or a motheboard/controller problem. Not saying it's not possible, but I'd be surprised to see it.